What will the budget look like for National Defense?

It’s still up in the air whether the general elections will be called earlier than planned. However, in just a few months, the national security budget will be up for presentation and debate in the House. We asked Minister Marin if he plans to request a budget increase for his National Defense and Border Security Ministry. His response was a bit ambiguous—he didn’t give a clear yes or no.

 

Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of National Defense

“There’s already the budget call and I’m already sitting down with our commanders, having various meetings with them, putting our priorities on the table. All right. Of course, after that, then we’ll be meeting with the Ministry of Finance to finalize what the budget will be. But yes, as always, and I believe you’ve seen that over the years, we have had the welfare of our soldiers foremost, right? We are a country with some restrictions in terms of our resources, but  we’ve always have their welfare first and whatever we can, we’ve always worked to improve on these. And I believe over the four years you’ve seen some significant improvements things that we that we’re there where we should be. Not yet. We’re working to it.”